Belgian Thomas Detry was singing the praise of playing partner Bob MacIntyre after the pair combined to share eighth place at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
Detry and MacIntyre were sharing the lead with five holes to play before a pair of bogeys at 15 and 17 jolted their victory quest before posting a 69 in a four-round 22-under-par tally on the host TPC Louisiana course.
Their combined effort earned the Scot and Belgian $150,000 each behind the all-Irish winning duo of Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry,
The MacIntyre/Detry partnership for the $US 8.9m partnership came about given their friendship that began as playing partners on the PGA Tour.
The Zurich Classic top-10 pairiing of Belgian’s Thomas Detry and Scot Bob MacIntyre (Image – PGAT)
Detry, aged 31, is four years older than MacIntyre and unlike his Scottish-born companion he initially earned his PGA Tour card for the 2023 season after qualifying via the secondary Korn Ferry Tour.
The proud Callaway-attached Detry contested 29 events last year, making the halfway cut in 23 to end the season impressively at 63rd on the money list while Detry has contested 10 events this 2024 season to be currently lying 35th thanks to his second-place finish late March in the Houston Open.
MacIntyre has also played in 10 PGA Tour with a best of sixth in the Mexico Open but the Scot has also missed the halfway cut in six events to be lying 114th on the FedEx Cup standings.
Detry said: “It hasn’t been a good start of the year for Bob and it was kind of the same for me last year when I made my debut on the PGA Tour.
“However, Bob is slowly settling-in to life out here while the golf courses each week are brand new for him, as well.
“Though I think as we saw last week that for both Bob and I it was nice playing alongside a familiar face and I think that helped greatly.
“Bob did have his manager and his manager’s wife with him last week but, like I said, seeing familiar faces does make a big difference while Bob also has the game to play well anywhere around the world.
“So, I wouldn’t be worried too much if he says he’s been struggling to settle into life on the PGA Tour as he’s a great player, and I can only wish him the best”.
“Bob and I both were DP World Tour players, and I’ve known him pretty well in the years we’ve been playing in Europe.
“He came here to New Orleans looking for a playing partner and so was I, so we got together and it’s been a good week.
“Bob’s used to a bit of pressure having played the Ryder Cup a couple of months ago, so he was tuned and dialled-in last week and so was I.
“We both played some really good golf but there were just a couple of mistakes there at the end of our Sunday round but overall we played really good and it was great to finish top-10”.
MacIntyre and Detry have travelled to McKinney in Texas where they will return to ‘individual’ competition at this week’s CJ Cup.
Joining MacIntyre in the $US 9.5m event will be fellow Scot Martin Laird.
